F O U R (78 page)
War Of The Spider Queen
Book 1
Dissolution
"Right, then," he said to the wizards. "I assume you can tell where you're
meant to stand, so do it and we'll begin. I'
passes if you'For a properly schooled wizard, mre up to it." ll say a line, you repeat it. Copy my
agic was generally easy. He relied on an
armamentarium of spells, ma
i ny devised by his predecessors, a few, perhaps, nvented by himself. In either case, they were perfected spells that he thoroughly
understood. He knew he could cast them properly, and what would happen
when he did.
An extemporaneous ritual was a different matter. Relying on their arcane
knowledge and natural ability, a circle of mages tried to generate a new effect on the fly
.
who had raised it or dischar Often, nothing happened. When it did, the power often turned on those ged itself in some other manner contrary to their
intent. Yet occasionally such a ceremony worked, and with his station, his wealth
and his homeland at stake, Gromph was r ,esolved to make this one of those times.
After the mages chanted for fifteen minutes, power began to whisper and sting
through the air. The archmage tapped the beater to the gong, sounding a
boomclashing, shivering tone. At once a vastering, grinding, deafening roar. Gr note answered and obscured the first, a om
B ph's subordinates flinched, but the aenre smiled in satisfaction, because the noise was thunder.
Perched high in the side cavern, the residents of Sorcere had an excellent view of what transpired next. The air at the top of the great vault, already thi
ck with
smoke, grew denser still as masses of vapor materialized. The shapeless shadows
flickered like great translucent dragonsFollowing each flash, they bellowed that godlike ham with fire leaping in their bellies.
mering blast, as if the
flames pained them.
Gromph knew that many of the folk in the city below had no idea what was
occurring—it was possible that even some of his erudite colleagues didn't know—but whether they understood or not, clouds, lightning, and w
eather were
paying a call on the hitherto changeless depths of the Under-dark.As one, the clouds dropped torrents of water to fall in frigid veils. The Baenr
e
could hear the sizzling sound as it pounded the cavern wall."That's impressive," said Guldor, "but are you sure it will put out the fl
ames?
The fire's ma
Grom gical, after all."
"Yes, instructorph's bruise gave him a twinge.," he growled, "because I'm not an incompetent from a House
of no account. I'm a Baenre and the Archmage of Menzoberranzan . . . and I'm
sure."
Before it was over, Pharaun lost track of how many battles he and his
comrades had fought. He only knew they rior
tactics m kept winning them, through supeo
growing, swelled by garrisons that had fought their way out ore than anything else, and that despite their losses, their numfth bers kept eir castles.Occasionally the ragtag arm
y cambeen pacified, and though he never caughte upon a section of the city that had already
so mu
Pharaun knew Bregan D'aerthe was fighting in concert with his own comch of a glimpse of them, pany. It
was as much a comfort as anything could be on this fierce and desperate night.
Finally the army from Tier Breche encountered an equally imunder Matron Baenre' pressive force
s command. The two companies united and marched on
Narbondellyn, where several bugbears with some degree of martial experiencehad striven to organize thousands of their fellow under-c
reatures into a force
capable of withstanding their masters' wrath.
Richard Lee Byers
215
War Of The Spider Queen
Book 1
Dissolution
chaotic. MiraculouslyThe great stone pillar of Narbondel shone above fighting that was wild and storm
, allaying Pharaun'
, partway through, the upper reaches of the cavern began tos greatest fear
. An hour later, the drow swept in and
annihilated the opposing force, and tIn the aftermath, the wizard walkedhus they took their homeland back. through the downpour, looking this w
ay
and that. Strands of wet hair clung to his forehead, and his boots squelched. As a
mage, he had to concede the storm was a glorious achievement, to say nothing of
the salvation of Menzoberranzan, but it was a pity his colleagues couldn't have
accomplished the same thing without wreaking havoc on everyone's
and chilling them to the bone. appearance The Mizzrym grinned. Neither Quenthel nor T
riel was anywhere around. He'd
taken direction from them all night, willingly enough, but he wanted to
command the finale of this extraordinary affair himself, and their absence gave
him an excuse to proceed without consulting them.
He cast about once more and spied Welverin Freth. The capable weapons
master of the Nineteenth House, Welverin excelled at combat despite the seemin
impedim gent of a prosthetic silver leg, and had fought in tandem with Pharaun
several tim
conferring with two of his lieutenants.es during the night. Currently he was huddled in a doorway "W
W eapons Master!" Pharaun called.elverin looked up and gave him a
Mizzrym?" nod. "How can I help you, Master "How would you like to help me kill the creature responsible for this insurrection?"
The warrior's eyes narrowed and he sa
"By no means. But if we' id, "Is this another of your jokes?"rour quarry slinks away into the Underdare going to do this, we'd better do it quickly, before
ride aerial mounts?" k. I trust that you and your troops can
Pharaun gestured to the giant bats, created by some enchanter, penned in anearby latticework dome. It seemed a petty miracle they'd
survived the rebellion
unsuffocated and unburned.
"Where do they keep the tack?" Welverin asked, peering at the cage.
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War Of The Spider Queen
Book 1
Dissolution
C h a p t e r
T W E N T Y
F 0 U R
Wathe renegades' fortress wasn't quiteter dripping from the hem of his cloak, Pharaun found that the layout of so perplexing when he wasn'thunters and suffering the brain-jangling aftereffects of a dodging
psionic assault. Theempty
, echoing rooms and corridors still seemed just as ominous, howeverjust as fitting an abode for wraiths and maledictions. ,
The Mizzrym watched Welverin and the other warriors of House Freth to see if the place was unsettling them. It didn't look like it. Perhaps they were too brave. Or perhaps the frethoughts from shadowy terrors to the sh, butchered corpses littericommonplace violence tng the floor turned their hat was theirprofession.They found the bodies, often cut in two or more pieces, lying here and thereabout the castle. Pharaun was astonished at the quantitywounded R . Apparently poor yld had had a nice long homicidal run of it before the conspiratorsslew him. Perhaps it had even required Syrzan to do the job.In retrospect, Pharaun wondered why the alhoon hadn't joined the search for the escaped prisoners right from the start. Maybe giving the Call hadtemporarily depleted its strength.
The Master of Sorcere led the soldiers into a long, spacious hall with a large dais at the far end. there, no doubt, a matron mother had held court and also dined, judging by the benches and trestle tables stacked in an alcove. Carved and painted spiders crawled everywhere, a sort of mask, Pharaun supposed, given thatthe former tenants of the keep had petitigenuine spiderweb veiled the artwork. oned other deities in private. Sheets of We
Pharaun turned his head, then caught hilverin said, "Look." s breath in surprise. Ryld Arjust stepped from the mouth of a servants' passage midway up th gith had e left-hand wall.
The weapons master's strides were evenwas noticeably thinner and sure despite his wounded leg. He
, as if his body was burning fuel at a prodigious rate, and somehow he'd recovered Splitter
.
The soldiers aimed their crossbows.
"No!" Pharaun said. Not yet, anyway.
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